Passport Health franchise specializes in travel-related medications

Friday

Nov 23, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 23, 2007 at 11:16 PM

Julie and Guy Barker love to travel. Aside from the many trips they’ve taken back to their native Ireland and England, they’ve explored parts of Africa, Canada and Central America. A registered nurse, Julie Barker had been working when she and her husband purchased a Passport Health franchise — a privately held chain of vaccination clinics that specializes in travel-related medications — in Woburn in 2006.

Matt Dunning

Julie and Guy Barker love to travel.

Aside from the many trips they’ve taken back to their native Ireland and England, they’ve explored parts of Africa, Canada and Central America.

In large part, it was their love of traveling that prompted the Lexington couple to open a vaccination franchise in East Cambridge last month.

A registered nurse, Julie Barker had been working when she and her husband purchased a Passport Health franchise — a privately held chain of vaccination clinics that specializes in travel-related medications — in Woburn in 2006.

In a year’s time, with the help of Dr. Matt Philips, the Barkers have not only exceeded their financial expectations, they’ve managed to open a new location right in the heart of Cambridge.

“It’s a great location,” Julie Barker said of their new digs on Cambridge Street. “We can reach so many different types of people from here. We get all walks of life.”

With the addition of the Cambridge office, the Barkers said they’re hoping to cash in on the abundance of college students and young professionals living in the area. At the Woburn office, most of the Barkers’ customers were corporate groups and traveling couples. An added advantage Passport Health holds over its competitors — namely crowded hospitals and private practice physicians — is price. Where a private doctor’s office could charge as much as $400 just for a travel consultation, Passport Health provides similar service for $45.

“One of the reasons we chose the area is because of the students,” Julie Barker said. “We found that they were having a tough time getting to Woburn.”

“It was no use for people who travel by the [MBTA],” Guy Barker added.

Now that the Cambridge location is open for business a short walk north from Lechmere Square, the Barkers are expecting the average age of their customers to drop considerably over the next several months, particularly as the school year comes to an end in May for the city’s population of immigrant students.

“When they go back for the summer, they tend to not realize that their immunizations have expired, and there’s this big push to stock up,” Barker said.

In recent years, it’s become nearly impossible to utter the word “vaccination” without conjuring thoughts of the word “shortage” immediately afterward. Supply, the Barkers said, is almost never a problem, as Passport Health is the nation’s second-largest private provider of vaccinations.

“In terms of your more common vaccinations, first the government gets it, then the private providers,” Guy Barker said. “We’re at the top of the private providers list, in terms of sheer volume.”

At Passport Health, which got its start in Maryland in 1990s, the philosophy is, “We don’t just vaccinate, we educate.” It’s a mantra that the Barkers have bought into wholesale. In addition to providing vaccinations for everything from shingles to the flu, to malaria and hepatitis and rabies, Passport Health also provides its customers with valuable tips and information about their destinations, as well as assistance in buying traveler’s insurance.

“We do everything,” Barker said. “We try as best we can to put it all under one roof, and make this an all-encompassing travel stop. We want to equip people with the best advice and as much information as possible.”

Looking ahead, the Barkers plan to expand even further upon the types of services they provide. One day, Julie Barker said she hopes Passport Health will evolve into the ultimate one-stop travel shop, where customers can get their shots at the same time they book their flights and hotels.

“There’s really no end to the possibilities,” Barker said. “I think it’s a wonderful idea to try to combine all of the separate steps people go through when they travel into one. When you put it all together, you feel safe and you feel comfortable.”